Training chickens to go in at night...

[chiknman]

Food is a huge incentive.  I trained my girls that dusk is when the scratch can comes out.  I would rattle the can, walk into the coop and tos scratch into the shavings.  This makes them hunt for it.  While their backs are turned, the door gets shut  Now they think that dusk is feeding time and are waiting for me in the coop each evening

I get the same with 3 of my dwarves! I shake their feed can and they come runnin'. But I have one red who is defiant until the end. She is the troublemaker who I end up chasing around the yard (as the 'Rocky' theme plays in my head). If I keep coop door open others think it looks like fun and get back out. If its closed, my troublemaker prances in front of the others as I try to contain her, open the door, keep others from escaping and get her inside.
I think she has me trained so well it has become a ritual every night, and pure entertainment for me mum.

 

[JESSLYNNA]

Thank you for asking this! My flock is hopefully going to the coop this coming weekend! I am concerned that it will be more difficult with them out of the brooder that is conveniently in my attached garage! My girls love meal worms and the light is a great suggestion! Thanks to all!

 

[crazy4chix]

If you have the door to the coop is open, when it gets dark enough, they will go in if you have a place in the coop for them to roost. I would try waiting until it gets dark.

 

[bruceha2000]

If you have the door to the coop is open, when it gets dark enough, they will go in if you have a place in the coop for them to roost. I would try waiting until it gets dark.

But they DO have to have a preconditioned experience that the coop is "home".

 

[jburts]

LOL was wondering that myself, anyway I have three older hens and have four 11 weeks old hens, which I'm slowly integrating it will be several more weeks before I can throw them in the coup.
right now they are in a run that I divided off, from the big girls, and they go in to the kennel at night in the garage,
we sometimes have a raccoon that wonders by so I can't trust them in the run where the raccoon can smell them.
last time we had babies one of them got killed in the kennel at night we thought they would be safe, had a tarp over them, and sure enough a raccoon came and could not get in but it stuck it's hand in the kennel and tried pulling one out, dog woke up and scared it off,
so even though they can't get into the chicken run not taking any chances, my big girls are locked up in the coup at night, so far so good.

 

[jburts]

oh and by the way it does take several nights of rounding up the chickens and putting them in bed but they catch on pretty fast,

 

[MysteriaSdrassa]

light on a timer inside the coop is the easiest way,,, set it so that it turns on while still light out and turns off after dark,, the birds will be attracted to the light source,, they really don't like being out in the dark,,,, of course stragglers will still have to be urged in,, but you should have much less problems getting them to go

 

[ChickensARGreat]

My chickens would run into a burning building if I threw some dried meal worms in there.

Same with mine! The key to a happy chicken can be found in it's stomach!

 

[snhchick]

Hi Everyone.

I have the same problem getting my young Silkies to go into the coop so will try some of the suggestions on this thread.

I only have the "people" door on the coop at the moment, which I leave open for them to go in and out during the day. I have their food and water inside the coop and did not put any food/water in the run, hoping that they would go back into the coop to eat and drink.This is the second day for them, I took some food and water out to them to see if they were famished and sure enough they attacked the food and water. I feel terrible that they went hungry yesterday (although I did chase them inside once during the day). I'm just surprised that they couldn't figure out that the food and water was inside. Before yesterday, I was keeping them in a tractor that had food and water available and then putting them in the coop at night. I will be away for a few days soon, so I was hoping to get them into a routine before turning them over to the "sitter." Can they be trained to go inside to eat and drink or should I plan to have food and water available in the run a well as the coop?

Thanks!

 

[bruceha2000]

How big is the coop snhchick? If it is big enough that they won't kill each other, maybe leave them in there while you are gone. Easier on the "Sitter" (other than trying to keep them from running out) and maybe they will imprint on the coop as "home".